Suakin Island, Sudan
Turkey is temporarily taking over Suakin island for reconstruction. Suakin is at the crossroads between Aden Gulf and the Red Sea, and Saudi Arabia and East Africa. The move is another step for Turkey's engagement policy in Africa.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went to the Sudanese capital Khartoum for an official two-day visit to strengthen ties between the two countries. It was the first visit by a Turkish president to the African country. The two leaders inked agreements worth billions of dollars, consistent with Turkey's Africa engagement policy.
Erdogan and his Sudanese counterpart Omar al Bashir visited Suakin island on the Red Sea. The island is of high importance to Sudan because it lies at the crossroads between Saudi Arabia and Port Sudan—Sudan's largest port, located just north of the island.
Suakin island used to be an important point in the journey of Muslim pilgrims traveling from African nations to Mecca and Medina to perform Hajj, and for traders from East Asia to Africa and Europe. During the Ottoman era, Turks constructed a mosque on the island for the Hanafi and a Shafii Islamic schools of thought, which Erdogan and al Bashir visited together.
After the visit to Suakin island, Erdogan gave a speech at Khartoum University, where he requested Bashir to allow Turkey to restore artefacts on the island. “'If you allocate this island to us, we will restore it completely and will make it worthy of historical honour again,' I said. Because we saw Suakin Island in this state and it made us sad. It’s been demolished.”
After another meeting with Turkish and Sudanese businesspeople, Erdogan announced that Sudan agreed to temporarily put Suakin island under Turkey's care for reconstruction.
"God willing, even for Umrah trips, as it was in previous times, people went to Jeddah from here. These roads will be built again, we will restore it,” Erdogan said. He stated that the "imperialists have ruined Africa" and they have conducted one-sided economic policies, but Turkey is willing to pursue a “win-win” policy. "When we look at Turkey's Africa policy, it is more about soft-power. TIKA (Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency) is building schools and hospitals, and helping to find water wells," said Volkan Ipek, an Africa expert at Yeditepe University, adding that Turkey is aiming to win the hearts and minds of the African people.
Turkey has promised to rebuild the island which the Ottoman Empire used as a port to secure access to what was then called the Hejaz province—now western Saudi Arabia—from invaders coming from the Red Sea. Bashir promised to allocate a shipyard to Turkey, which Sudan will take back when Ankara is done with the rebuilding. There were no details given yet on securing workers, buildings and construction sites in the region, which suffers from attacks.
Erdogan said that the defence industry is another area where the two nations can co-operate. Turkish army Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar, also accompanied Erdogan to Sudan to discuss how to enlarge security co-operation.
Some pro-government Egyptian media outraged by Turkey's Chief of Staff Hulusi Akar's (middle) visit to Sudan, described it as "playing with fire in exchange for dollars." The island is strategically located on the Red Sea. Across the sea lies Saudi Arabia and to the north lies Egypt. The two countires have been facing border challenges in Halayeeb. Khartoum accuses Cairo of deploying its army to the Sudanese side of its border, which Egypt claims as its own territory.
Ankara and Cairo's diplomatic relations were at the lowest level since 2013, after the coup by Egypt's Abdel Fattah El Sisi which toppled the first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi. Ankara does not recognise Sisi as a legitimate leader. Now, Egypt's pro-government media are vilifying neighbouring Sudan over its growing ties with Turkey and Qatar, saying the three are conspiring against Egypt. Ankara and Riyadh have also faced tensions over the Qatar crisis, but Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to try to smooth things over.
The agreement between Sudan and Turkey was watched very carefully by both Cairo and Riyadh. Turkey also has strong ties with Somalia, another East African country. Turkish soldiers are training the Somali army at a military camp built by Turkey in the capital Mogadishu. "Turkey took some [military] steps in East Africa. Somalia can be an example. This might create a security dilemma for countries that have military bases in Djibouti," Ipek said citing the military camp.
Many countries have set up military bases in Djibouti, the latest being China. "Turkey didn’t have any military expectations in Africa and [a deployment to Suakin Island] will not create a problem [for neighbouring countries], because Turkey is focusing on economic relations rather than military issues. If there will be a military existence, this will be against terrorist organisations," Ipek added, referring to Al Shabab and Somali pirates.
The temporary allocation of the island is part of a move to boost Sudan's economy. In 2014, Turkey rented around 780,000 square kilometres of cultivated area for 99 years from Sudan that aims to boost the country’s agriculture.
“Maybe in a couple of years the trade volume will be at one or two billion dollars, but our goal is $10 billion,” Erdogan said in Sudan. Right now the bilateral trade with Turkey stands at around $500 million.
With the restoration, the port on the island will be used again after years of being disabled, so that Sudan won't be depending only on Port Sudan. From Port Sudan, around $4 billion worth of goods are exported, while annual imports to the tune of $7.5 billion are offloaded, making the harbour an integral part of the country’s economy.
The attraction to Port Sudan comes from its location in Red Sea Free Trade Zone (RSFZ), and also its connectivity to the international airport. The coral-choked port has a petroleum refinery, an international airport and modern docking facilities that handle the bulk of the country’s external trade.
The move aimed to ease Port Sudan's burden, as well as, create another employment area for the country, which suffers from economic problems. More goods coming into the country, two ports as international transfer points and more businesses hope will strengthen both the Sudanese economy and Turkish-Sudanese relations.
Turkey signed a 99-year lease in December 2017 to redevelop the Ottoman-era port on Suakin Island as a tourism hub. Riyadh and allies fear Ankara also has military ambitions. The 20-square-kilometer island is reached by ship via a narrow inlet from the Red Sea and has been connected to the mainland since the 19th century by a causeway. The isle of Suakin, with the town of that name, is situated in the bay of Suakin, which affords good anchorage. Suakin is supposed to be the Soter Limen of Diodorus, the Theon Scter of Ptolemy; though it is not easy to conceive how these terms, signifying “the safe harbor,” could apply to one of such difficult entrance.
Suakin is situated at the extremity of a narrow inlet, about twelve miles in length and two in width. The entrance of the bay is only about sixty fathoms wide, but it opens gradually to two miles. With northerly winds it is very difficult to enter or to leave the bay. But when the winds are from the south, there is a regular landbreeze every morning, which obviates all difficulties. The bay has a sufficient depth of water, generally varying between fifteen and nineteen fathoms. At the bottom of the bay there are several islands, on one of which the town is built. The town is separated from its suburb, called El Geyf, which stands on the mainland, by an arm of the sea about five hundred yards wide. The harbor, which is on the east side of the town, is formed by a projecting part of the contineut. The arm of the sea on the west side affords no anchorage for ships of any size. The islands and all the surrounding country are sandy, and produce only a few shrubs or low acacias.
Control of Suakin island, which was settled by the Beja people of east Africa more than 1,000 years ago, had been fought over by rival regional powers for much of its history. Suakin was once the most important trading-place on the west shore of the Red Sea. The inhabitants had no other pursuit than commerce either by sea or with the contiguous countries of Eastern Africa. They exported the commodities which they receive from Eastern Africa to all the harbors of Hejaz and Yemen, down to Mocha, but chiefly to Jidda and Hodeyda. The number of black slaves annually brought through Suakin to the coast of Arabia amounted in the mid-19th Century, according to Burckhardt, to between 2000 and 3000, and about an equal number were sent there from Massowah in Abyssinia, where about 3500 were annually shipped to Mocha.
Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, and the Ottoman administration in the next 400 years was managed directly from Istanbul. Suakin Island was Africa's pilgrimage door. The Turks obtained possession of Suakin at the same time that they occupied the opposite coast of Arabia. In the fifteenth century Suakin was a place of great importance and wealth, the emporium of the Red Sea, and one of the richest cities in the east. It derived its importance from its being in the middle ages the maritime capital of the Turks in the Red Sea, when that empire maintained there a powerful navy. Suakin has declined along with the Turkish power; and its only support is now derived from its being the channel of communication between Arabia and the interior of Africa. Pilgrims and slave-dealers, or persons who combine these two vocations, quit the Nile at Shendi, and proceed through Taka and other districts of Nubia to this port, where they embark for Jidda. They carry with them slaves, with a little ivory and gold, and take Indian goods in return.
Under Turkish control, it provided a naval base from which to protect the Ottoman province of Hijaz, now the west coast of Saudi Arabia, from attack. For centuries it was the main port used by African Muslims travelling to Mecca. Colonisation by the Turks was followed by periods of Egyptian and British rule in the 19th and 20th centuries.
By the mid-19th Century the inhabitants, from six to eight thousand, depended for their subsistence on the town of Ugaff, situated on the main land, and with which Suakin kept up a perpetual trade. Ugaff, which was of more importance than Suakin, had a bazaar of milk, butter, cattle, wood, and mats in abundance. The commerce of the neighborhood, which consisted principally of cereals, butter, and provisions for Jeddah, was considerably increased by the more frequent communications with the interior of Africa, and especially with Soudan and Darfour.
Suakin was formerly a place of great wealth and importance, but had long been in a declining state, and by the mid-19th century was almost in ruins. Suakin looked better when seen at a distance than on a nearer view; the buildings all white-washed and on an elevated site, and two minarets, giving the town a handsome appearance. Like all the towns in the east, it had narrow and dirty streets. All that remained of its former grandeur was its capacious port, which was capable of containing 200 large vessels, that can anchor close to the island in seven fathoms water; but is so narrow at the mouth as to render an entrance impracticable, except with the most favorable wind. It is rather remarkable that this narrow passage should have so long remained open, considering the clouds of sand which are borne toward it at one season, and the action of the sea continually breaking over it, after having passed over sandbanks.
Even the Abyssinian merchants began to visit the market of Suakin in preference to that of Masuah. The route followed by the merchants from Gondor to Suakin was first to Waina in three days, thence to Galabat in three days, thence to Gatteref in five days, thence to Rassela (Take) in seven days, and Taka to Suakin in sixteen days, making in all thirty-five days. The advantage of this route, much longer than the old one, consists in being less expensive for the caravans, the transport being effected by camels, while in the mountains only mules can be employed. In the route from Waima to Suakin the caravans avoid the taxes in the interior of Abyssinia, and above all enjoy the protection of an established government.
The principal article of export, butter, is consumed in incredible quantities on the Arabian coast, and its export amounts to the sum of 210,000 thalers. The shea butter of Africa, obtained from a nut the produce of the butter tree, common to Central Africa, after a considerable process of preparation for the market. Suakin exported slaves, butter, salt, coffee, dates, gums, hides, cereals, ivory, gold, cattle, ostrich feathers, musk, and other merchandize, to a total value (excepting slaves) of 354,000 thalers. The imports are, cottons from Masuah, iron, pearls, all articles of hardware, woods, carpets, and arms.
But once-grand trading warehouses and crenellated harbor-front buildings now stand derelict. The town's only public hospital predates Sudan's independence in 1956 and many among Suakin's 50,000 residents complain that Suakin has been neglected for decades by central governments in Khartoum, which favored investment in Port Sudan, the capital of Red Sea State 50 kilometers to the north and which is now home to about half a million people.
The regeneration of the island, which is being managed by Turkey's state-run Turkish Cooperation and Coordination (TIKA) aid agency, to bring many benefits for local residents. The project will involve renovating the island's two Ottoman-era mosques, which are believed to date from the 16th century, as well as an old customs building.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while visiting Tunisia, the last stop within the scope of visits to African countries; gave information about the allocation of Sevak the island in Turkey. "Imagine, people from Turkey wishing to go on pilgrimage will come and visit the historical areas on Suakin Island," Erdogan said in Khartoum during his first trip to Sudan. "From there … they will cross to Jeddah by boat."
Announcing the Suakin agreement in December 2017, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters that Turkey would "build a dock to maintain civilian and military vessels" and said the deal could "result in any kind of military cooperation". Turkey and Sudan have signed several agreements worth $650 million in total, including Turkish investments into the construction of Khartoum's new airport, as well as sector investments in cotton production, electricity generation and building grain silos and meat slaughterhouses, with Erdogan and Bashir planning to increase bilateral trade up to $10 billion.
Turkey’s deal with Sudan to lease the historical Ottoman island of Suakin back to Turkey - which has great plans for it to be a Red Sea military base – angering neighboring Egypt, which accuses Qatar of harboring Muslim Brotherhood members. Interest in Turkey's plans for Suakin had also been heightened by Saudi Arabia's months-long blockade of neighbouring Qatar, a dispute in which Egypt and the UAE backed Riyadh, while Turkey sided with Qatar.
Qatar, it was always expected, would be a military partner on the Island and had signed a $4bn deal with Sudan to develop and manage a port on the island, with a naval dock also planned to be constructed by Turkey. “The transport minister, Makkawi [Mohammed al-Awad], said two docks have been rehabilitated to receive fifth generation ships with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes. He pointed out that the project will be implemented in three stages, beginning with $500m and ending with $4bn,” state-owned Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) reported. Reports say that Sudan will receive 51% of the project’s shares and Qatar will get the remainder.
Turkey believed that it can use the location to leverage itself against both Egypt and Saudi Arabia – its regional foes who are weary of Ankara’s relations with the Muslim Brotherhood.
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